


Before Goodbye

by kscribbles



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-02
Updated: 2012-09-02
Packaged: 2017-11-13 09:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/502199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kscribbles/pseuds/kscribbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two double drabbles, missing scenes from <i>Journey's End</i>, from the Doctor's perspective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for 4x13, obviously. This is unbeta'd, all mistakes are mine. I had to get these out of my head. Exactly 400 words in Word.

  
**I.**

 

He has a few seconds when no one is paying either one of them much mind. When everyone is still hugging and celebrating and in a few moments they’ll park the TARDIS and drop Sarah Jane off. That’s fine; a few seconds is all he needs.

“Thank you.”

His blue-suited counterpart looks surprised. “For what?”

“For saving Donna.”

“Ah.”

“And the TARDIS.”

“Yes, well. You’d have done the same…” He knows they’re both trying not to think about what he _wouldn’t_ have done the same. “If you’d, you know, spontaneously generated from your own hand.”

He thinks a moment, tries to imagine being born that way. “Naked?” he asks.

“Obviously.”

“Right.” He’s not sure how much to tell him, how much he can work out on his own. He decides on: “Anyway, Thanks.” He pushes the coral into his hands.

“Ah,” he says again, sadly, understanding. At least some of it. “Donna…?” he asks him, glancing over at her; her smile seems enough to power the TARDIS on its own. “You’re going to…?”

“I have to, yes.” He swallows, trying not to show emotion in front of his duplicate and wondering why he should.

“Then thank _you_. For saving her.”

 

 

**II.**

 

After they leave that horrible beach, Donna tries to help.

“Are you alright?”

He doesn’t bother answering.

“You did the right thing, you know.”

“Then why do I…” _…feel this way?_ he doesn’t finish. Donna knows, must know, she has his mind.

“Because you love her, you twonk.”

“I left her,” he says bitterly. “ _Years_ of wanting nothing more than… and, first chance I get, I _leave_ her. With someone else.”

“You left her with _you_ ,” Donna says, like he’s being particularly thick. “He’ll make her happy. Give her everything you can’t. You know this. I know you do, because I do too. So does he. And he knows you know. And knows you know that he knows you know.”

“Donna…”

“Well stop moping about! What would you rather, keep ‘em both? Share Rose; you get her odd days, he even? Or strand him somewhere, a genocidal part human-Time Lord, alone without a TARDIS while you play house until your girlfriend gets too old to keep up and you have to leave her anyway? You had. No. Choice.”

“Neither did she.”

She sighs dramatically. Then her mood shifts, rapidly, like his do. “I thought we could try the planet Felspoon...”

 

FIN

* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  
This story archived at <http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=23667>


End file.
